Jessica Millward is an American historian who focuses on African American history, early America, African diaspora, slavery, and gender. Her work focuses on the female slave experience by emphasizing narratives of black women during slavery.
Jessica Millward | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 17 American Fork, Utah |
| Education | University of California, Los Angeles, Ph.D |
| Occupation(s) | Author, historian |
| Employer(s) | University of California, Irvine |
| Website | jessicamillward.com |
Early life
editJessica Millward was born in American Fork, Utah. She was raised in West Valley City, near Salt Lake City, in a Mormon household.[1][2]
Education
editAt the University of Utah, Millward majored in history and minored in African American studies to earn her bachelor's degree. After completing her bachelor's degree, a four-year scholarship was awarded to Millward to teach in secondary school in Utah. However, Millward decided to attend the University of California, Los Angeles, where she received her master's degree in African American studies and where she earned her doctorate. Millward was the first person on either side of her family to attend college and earn her Ph.D.[3]
Maya Angelou's book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, first sparked Millward's interest in studying African American history. Once in her master's program, Brenda Stevenson became an advisor to Millward. Stevenson's research intrigued Millward and encouraged her to study the slave experience.[4] Newly learned knowledge from personal accounts and interacting with Stevenson's research became the foundation to Millward's book, Finding Charity's Folk.
Career
editMillward is an associate professor in the history department in the School of Humanities at the University of California, Irvine.[5] Before teaching at the University of California, Irvine, she taught African American history at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.[6]
While at the University of California, Irvine, Millward founded the UCI Ghana Project, a research exchange program between the University of California, Irvine and the University of Ghana.[7]
Millward is involved with professional societies such as the American Historical Association, Association for the Study of the World Wide African Diaspora, Organization of American Historians, Association of Black Women Historians, Association for the Study of African American Life and History, Southern Association of Women Historians, Maryland Historical Society, and Delta Sigma Theta.[7]
Awards and honors
editSome of Millward's honors include:[7]
- Association of American University Women Post Doctoral Fellowship, 2006–2007
- Lord Baltimore Fellowship, Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, MD, 2004–2006
- Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow, African-American Studies and Research
- Program, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 2003–2004
- Nathan Huggins/Benjamin Quarles Dissertation Research Award, Organization of American Historians, 2003
- Research Fellow, David Library of the American Revolution, Washington
- Crossing, PA, 2001–2002
- Recipient of the Association of Black Women's Historians Letitia Woods Brown Award for best article on African American Women's History, 2007
Works
editFinding Charity’s Folk is a book written by Millward and published by the University of Georgia Press in December 2015.[8] Finding Charity's Folk encompasses oral history, artifacts, photos, and personal accounts acquired over 15 years of research to share the narrative of enslaved women who had been silenced.
References
edit- ^ "Mumia: Vulnerability and Hope - The Feminist Wire". The Feminist Wire. 2014-01-23. Retrieved 2016-05-17.
- ^ "GRADUATION: HUNTER". DeseretNews.com. 1991-06-07. Archived from the original on June 4, 2016. Retrieved 2016-05-17.
- ^ "Continuum - - Winter 2003". continuum.utah.edu. Retrieved 2016-05-17.
- ^ "UCLA History". www.history.ucla.edu. Retrieved 2016-05-17.
- ^ "UC Irvine - Faculty Profile System". www.faculty.uci.edu. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
- ^ "Teaching African American History in the Age of Obama". www.academia.edu. Retrieved 2016-05-17.
- ^ a b c "UC Irvine - Faculty Profile System". www.faculty.uci.edu. Retrieved 2016-05-17.
- ^ Millward, Jessica (2015-12-15). Finding Charity's Folk: Enslaved and Free Black Women in Maryland. University of Georgia Press. ISBN 978-0-8203-3108-9.